Hello friends,
President Obama is leaving office in the next few months and unfortunately, we failed to close Guantanamo like we planned. The nasty relations between U.S. and Cuba are so “outdated” that many people in American society have normalized these ill relations, but do not really understand why they exist. Here is a brief history on U.S. and Cuba relations that led us to our stagnant problem of Guantanamo Bay.
After the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Spain gave up their rights to the territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Guam to America. Cuba became an independent nation with the exception that the U.S. had a permanent ownership, or “rental” of the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Being such a quasi-democracy and anti-communism country, the U.S. does not want any communism on the western hemisphere so close to their land. Initially, the U.S. supported Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution in overthrowing President Bautista, but quickly realized Castro’s communist intentions. Subsequently, Cuba and the U.S. began straining their economic relationship. Castro taxed American products so excessively that America’s market decreased to practically nothing in Cuba. America reacted by cutting off all trade with Cuba, causing Cuba to strengthen their trade with the Soviet Union instead. (The U.S. later implemented restrictions on other countries trading with Cuba as well, but within the last decade the embargo restrictions are loosening up). This hurt Cuba’s economic growth and halted the increase of technology and industrialization. The U.S. intelligence agencies also conducted multiple attempts to overthrow and assassinate Fidel Castro, called the “Bay of Pigs.” They were unsuccessful and only worsened their relations with Cuba.
Cuba has refused to cash the rent checks from the U.S., which are at a ridiculously low cost at $4,085. So, of course, the Cuban government wants their land back—and not just the prison—but all of Guantanamo Bay: a total of 47 square miles of Cuban land. As a result of all these economic and political conflicts, Cuba and the U.S. have absolutely no diplomatic relations and communicate through Switzerland.
In the attempt to fight the war on terror, the U.S. began loading the Gitmo with suspected terrorists. After the attacks on 9/11, Congress passed a war power authorization, which allowed President Bush to fight the War on Terror by “all means necessary.” U.S. military began invading Afghanistan and taking in prisoners for interrogations and torture. At first, the prisoners were sent to countries throughout the Middle East in with whom the CIA and FBI had good relations with, such as Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and so on. They essentially “outsourced” their torture so they could use more brutal and violent means of torture, punishment, and forceful interrogation.
A few months later, the Pentagon officials decided to house the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay (GTMO), because it was far away and isolated and free from interference from the Cuban government. The CIA passed on the responsibilities of the prisoners to the U.S. Army and subsequently to the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld. He claimed that these “terrorists” were basically the epitome of evil and that they did not deserve the same rights (under the Geneva Convention) of other prisoners of war. Remember that the prisoners are just soldiers of Afghanistan, not necessarily related to or affiliated with Al Qaeda. They were taken in under “suspicion” of being high-value terrorist withholding confidential information about Al Qaeda operations. Some men were even taken in for no cause at all on record. They were put through such intense and violent interrogations that they falsely confessed supposed secrets or plans of Al Qaeda, which subsequently did nothing for helping the war on terror.
Fourteen years later, there are still 61 prisoners left at Guantanamo, 20 of which have been qualified for release years ago, yet still wait—perhaps indefinitely. Current diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba are slowly getting better under President Obama, but the embargo restriction will continue until Guantanamo closes and Cuba receives all of their land back. Until then, innocent men will continue to perpetually suffer in Guantanamo.
(picture from: https://www.popularresistance.org/witness-against-torture-guantanamo-poster-campaign/)
The Conscious Child 